Power Rangers 2: Dragon Rising
by CharlieD123
Summary: The Power Rangers were successful in defeating Rita Repulsa, slapping her off the planet in the process and keeping the Zeo Crystal in its rightful place. Six months later, a new and inevitable threat is looming that could tear the team apart from the inside out. Being a superhero isn't simple, with life getting in the way, can they even cope with the pressure of saving the world?
1. Chapter 1: Kimberly

**Welcome to Power Rangers 2: Dragon Rising! I envision this as what a sequel could be for the movie released back in March. Each chapter is from the POV of a different ranger. I hope you like!**

Chapter One: Kimberly

It's been a long night. We drove up to Lake Tahoe for the weekend, it was Billy's idea, he used to come here with his parents when he was little. Now I'm standing outside a gas station at 3AM, waiting for the bathroom that Zack has been in for the last five minutes.

"Hey Zack, could you hurry up in there?" I call.

"Kim, uh, you probably don't wanna come in here after me." he replies.

"Great." I sigh, walking back towards the van where Trini is waiting for us.

"Have you got a cup?"

"For what?" Trini asks, I blush.

"I need to pee, Zack's dropping an atomic bomb in the bathroom and even if I morphed I wouldn't be able to handle that." I reply, Trini smirks.

"I don't have a cup, but if my Mom was here she would."

"I understand that reference, and love it, but right now all I can think about is finding a bathroom." I reply, shutting van door and heading into the gas station.

"You okay? You look weird" Billy says, as he walks out with Jason. They're armed with a ridiculous amount of snacks. We're a few hours out of Angel Grove still.

"I'm fine. Just wanted to hurry you guys up that's all." I reply, I'll wait till the next gas station comes along. They're a dime a dozen.

"Where's Zack?" Jason asks.

"No comment." I reply, getting back in the van and sitting in the middle. Trini shifts uncomfortably, expressing her annoyance she no longer has the back seat to herself.

"Hey guys, sorry about that." Zack says, getting in the Van and strapping his belt on.

"You disgust me." I reply, nudging him jokingly.

"Sorry Kim, but when you gotta go you gotta go."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna try and take a nap." I reply, leaning my head back and shutting my eyes, I slip away quickly.

 **A couple hours later…**

"Kim… Kim… Kim wake up!" Trini says, pulling me out of my sleep. Zack's drooling on my shoulder.

"Ew, get off Zack" I say, pushing him off me. His head makes a loud thump on the window, he grumbles, and continues sleeping. "What is it Trini?" I ask.

"You were snoring." Trini replies.

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"Yes, you snore really loud." she says.

"No, I mean, why did you wake me up for that?"

"It was so annoying. I had headphones in, playing on full blast, and I could still hear you." Trini laughs, I look forwards and catch Jason looking at me in the rear view mirror. He smiles. I don't return the favour but I hold his gaze anyway. He breaks first. I recognise the skyline, we must nearly be home.

"Home crap home." Jason says, as we pull into town. It's not as messed up as it was when the attack first happened, but it still isn't the same as it used to be. It's weird, after we saved Angel Grove I had this new found affection for it. A far cry from where I was a couple weeks before. We drop Trini off first, her Mom was waiting on her porch. She's insane. Zack was next, then Billy. Me and Jason sit in silence for a moment, until one of us breaks it.

"That was fun." Jason says.

"Yeah, definitely worth the long drive." I reply. Jason laughs.

"We broke the record for longest five hour drive that turned into an all-nighter ever."

"Probably. Between Zack's toilet breaks, Billy's snack hoarding and the GPS being _the worst_ we definitely deserve that title." I say. Jason laughs again. The sound makes me smile.

"Here we are." he says as we pull in to my driveway.

"Thanks Jason." I reply, "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Night Kim." he says, he watches me as I head up to my door, taking off once he sees I get in okay. I think he forgets I'm a superhero, just like him. To be honest, I forget sometimes.

 **The next morning…**

Angel Grove High. Ugh. I may like the town more than I used to, but this place, one of the few buildings not destroyed by Rita, can burn for all I care.

"Hey Kim, halloween was a few months back, you can take off your slut costume now." Amanda calls, from somewhere behind me. I ignore her.

"Fuck off." Zack says, I didn't even realise he was there.

"Oh, hey. Thanks for that." I reply, Zack puts his arm round me.

"Well you know me Kim, just your regular every day super hero."

"Something like that." I reply, smirking at him. "I'm surprised you're here."

"I'm turning over a new leaf. Again." he says, typical Zack.

"Glad to hear it." I reply, "I'll see you at lunch." I say, waving as I head towards home room.

"Seeya" Zack says, as he zips off in the other direction. I walk in, sitting down at the back of the class to avoid being prime bait for Amanda and her cohorts. What I did to her still haunts me every day of my life, but I've tried to say sorry. I've tried to make up for what I did and nothing seems to work. Of course Ty gets away with everything. He was the one that sent the picture to everybody at school, but people forget that…

"Hey." Jason says, sitting down next to me, Billy following behind him.

"Hey Jason, Hi Billy." I reply. Our teacher, Mr Caplan, walks in. That halts our conversation from going any further.

"Good morning students. I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing weekend, the Summer formal is coming up and our class president Amanda needs to tell you all about it, so before I take the register I'll give her the floor." he says, sitting down in chair and opening his laptop. Amanda rises from her seat gracefully, stepping to the front of the class.

"Hi everybody. As you know, the most exciting day of the year is coming up and I'm gonna tell you all about it…" she trails off, staring out of the classroom window.

"Amanda? What is it?" Mr Caplan asks. She just points, her eyes wide and terrified. The three of us turn simultaneously, and sure enough, behind the school building there is an incredible, bright green beam of light shooting up into the sky.

"What the hell?" Jason asks.

"It looks like a blast of pure energy, not unlike the morphing gri-" Billy puts his hand over his lips, mouthing sorry to Jason. He always had these slip ups.

"We need to go check that out." I say, Jason nods.

"Let's go." he says. We stand up, but Mr Caplan stops us in our tracks.

"Where are you going?" he asks, "it's not safe until we know what that was."

"I need to go to the ladies room." I reply.

"Have you still not gone to the bathroom?" Billy asks.

"Billy…" Jason hisses, as the three of us heave past Mr Caplan and out of the classroom.

"That'll be detention for the three of you, again!" he shouts as we run down the hall and out into the Angel Grove sunshine.

"It's that time again, finally." Jason says.

"What? The town and possibly the world is going to hell and we're the only people that can stop it?" Billy asks.

"Yep." Jason replies, smiling widely at us both. "It's Morphin' Time."


	2. Chapter 2: Jason

**Chapter Two: Jason**

"It's morphin' time." I say, the words I haven't said since our first morph when we were about to take Rita on. I worry I'm jumping the gun by saying we should morph now, but better to be safe than sorry I guess. We turn a corner and head out of the school grounds.

"J!" Zack shouts, Trini is with him.

"Hey man. Tell me you saw the green light too?" I ask.

"Couldn't miss it." Zack replies.

"We're gonna get to bust some heads, right?" Trini asks.

"Maybe…" Billy replies.

"Come on guys. Let's get moving." I say, there's a pit in my stomach. I'm terrified. What if we can't morph? What if the first time was a fluke? Like it knows my thoughts, my power coin swells in my pocket. I feel its warmth, it glows red, like it's assuring me. The green light bursts again, except closer this time. It looks like it's coming from the centre of town.

"Guys, we need to morph now while we're alone." I say. They stop, all holding their power coins and looking at me, their leader.

"It's morphin' time." I say, and like that, once again, we're the Power Rangers.

"I'm never gonna get used to this." Zack says, punching the air in excitement.

"Damn, this feels good. Getting back in the suit." Trini says.

"Let's go." Kimberly says, reminding us this isn't about fun and games. We head in the direction of the light source, it's dissipated again now. When we arrive, there's chaos. Police are everywhere, civilians are running around like headless chicken.

"Look, it's those people again!" a woman shouts, she looks half-scared, half-excited.

"Who are they?" a man asks as we walk past.

"What's the plan here, J?" Zack asks.

"I don't know. We can ask the cop what's going on, I guess." I reply quietly. We walk in a line up to commissioner, he smiles uneasily.

"Hi, commissioner. We wondered if you could tell us any more about what was happening here?" I ask, trying to sound like I know what I'm doing.

"We don't know. Eyewitness accounts say there was a person, caught in the, um, blast, whatever it was. It came from further down the road, we've cordoned it off but you guys can handle it I'm sure." he says, I frown behind the strength of my mask. I hope so.

"Come on then." I say, the others follow behind me as we approach the area the green light came from.

"What is that?" Kimberly asks.

"It's like a pattern, or a code" Billy says, kneeling down to investigate. Sure enough, there is a small black crater with a strange, alien-like pattern drawn into it.

"Do you know what it is?" Trini asks.

"No idea." Billy replies. "We should show it to Zordon, and Alpha 5."

"Good plan." Zack says, "but we've got bigger problems right now..."

"What do you mean?" I ask. He points behind me, I turn and see what he means. In the distance there are putties coming towards the town.

"Putties? How?" Kimberly asks.

"That doesn't matter. Let's get 'em" Trini says, tearing ahead of us and running towards them.

"Trini wait!" I shout, trying to stay in control.

"Come on boss, don't be lame." Zack says, joining her in the race to the putties. Billy, Kimberly and I follow, there's at least thirty putties running in our direction. Trini is the first to land a punch, smashing straight through one putty and roundhouse kicking another. Zack breaks one in half with one punch, throwing it's torso at Trini who punches it to pieces.

"Okay, that does look like fun." Kimberly says, she kicks a putty at light speed knocking it back and into another two.

"This is even easier than last time!" Zack shouts, as he smashes two putties together with brute strength. Maybe they don't need me to tell them what to do, do they just get it? From behind I hear screaming, more putties. Where are they coming from?

"Trini, come with me." I say, Trini charges through another putty and follows me. She's faster than me, and once again is the first to land a punch.

"Go! Get out of here!" I shout, there are still civilians just standing and watching. They look at me open mouthed, moving back a little but still filming on their phones. "Damnit." I say, punching another putty out.

"Jason, where do you think these creeps came from?" Trini asks.

"I don't know. We need to finish up here and get to Zordon's ship." I say, Trini nods.

"Say no more." she replies. Swiping, kicking and punching as hard and efficiently as she can. She's definitely the best fighter on the team. From ahead I see Zack, Kimberly and Billy coming over, they've finished off their wave of putties.

"Nice work guys." I say, stamping on the head of the last remaining putty. It cries out.

"That was crazy..." Billy says.

"Agreed." Kimberly replies.

"Let's get to Zordon, we can't waste any time." I say.

 **At the ship...**

Heading into the ship, it feels a little like coming home. We still visit Zordon and Alpha every few days, but this is official Power Ranger business so feels a little more big.

"Rangers! The grid lit up, we knew you morphed, but why?" Alpha asks, Zordon is silent.

"There was an energy blast of some kind in Angel Grove, it left these weird markings. They look alien definitely." Billy says, showing Alpha and Zordon the pictures.

"Oh, well of course, that's Eltarian..." Alpha says. "But, why is that there?"

"This is deeply troubling." Zordon says, breaking his silence.

"Why Zordon?" Trini asks, stepping forward.

"Those words are the calling card of someone truly despicable, even worse than Rita." he begins, Alpha shivers.

"It's not... It can't be." he says quietly.

"The being that left this carving is called Lord Zedd. He's an incredibly powerful being, hailing from the same planet as me. His thirst for power was beyond anything I've ever known. I thought he was dead. Millions of years ago he tried and failed to steal the Zeo Crystal, my team stopped him. I do not know if this is him or an imposter, but I fear the worst." Zordon says.

"Lord Zedd? These names are so corny.." Zack replies. "We'll take him out when he comes."

"Don't let your confidence betray you Zack." Zordon says, "he's incredibly strong."

"So was Rita, and Jason slapped her into the stratosphere." Billy interjects. "It was amazing, really."

"What could this Lord Zedd person want?" I ask.

"Nothing short of the entire universe under his control." Zordon replies.

"Damn..." Zack says, shaking his head.

"Look!" Alpha says, we turn and face the morphing grid. It's glowing green, and bigger than ever before.

"What's happening?" I shout.

"I don't know!" Alpha replies.

"It's the green power coin, it's been reactivated!" Zordon shouts, his voice booming across the room.

"But I thought it was destroyed when we beat Rita?" Kimberly asks.

"We did too..." Zordon says. Suddenly, it all goes silent. The grid returns to normal.

"What the hell happened?" Zack asks.

"Someone has claimed the power coin for themselves. The timing is too coincidental, rangers, I fear there is a new ranger walking among us.


	3. Chapter 3: Billy

**Chapter Three: Billy**

Being in the command centre feels strange. Knowing that I was here six months ago, dead, makes me feel uneasy. It doesn't help that we've never talked about it, it's almost like it never happened but I know it did.

"Billy?" Alpha calls. "Are you okay buddy?"

"Yeah, sorry." I reply, unconvincing.

"Well, I was about to say that I think I've discovered that the putties and the green light were definitely related…" Alpha replies.

"Alpha, we already knew that." I say, trying not to laugh.

"But not for sure!"

"I guess so…" Billy said.

"Billy, is everything okay?" Zordon asks. It's easy to forget he's there if you're not looking at the wall he lives in.

"Yes… I'm fine." I reply, "why does everybody keep asking me if I'm okay?"

"Because you don't seem okay." Alpha says, extending an arm to put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm gonna go work on the teleporting terminal." I reply, standing up and walking down the stairs and deeper into the command centre. I've been working on the teleporting terminal since just after we beat Rita Repulsa. It's connected to our power coins. I can teleport someone from the command centre somewhere else, but it's bringing them here that I'm struggling with. The entrance to the command centre opens above me, strange. I didn't think anybody else was coming in today.

"Hello?" I call, but no answer.

"Oh no… BILLY!" Alpha shouts from above me in the main part of the ship, must be trouble. I run upstairs and see a ranger, but it's not one from my team. They look a lot like Rita did, but fully morphed.

"Who are you?" Zordon asks, "why are you here?"

"I'm here to warn you. Stay out of my way, or else. My master and I are going to take over." She says, I think it's a she anyway.

"Good luck with that." I say, stepping forward. "It's morphin' time." I feel my armour growing around me and feel much more confident going for this green ranger than I did just now. I run forward and aim a swift kick at her chest, but she grabs my leg and throws me across the room. She's strong.

"Pathetic." she says, running forward and landing three punches before Alpha grabs her.

"Get her Billy!" he says, I kick once before she lets out this brilliant burst of green energy. It knocks me and Alpha away easy.

"I've called the other rangers, they won't be long green ranger." Zordon says, "you are helpless."

"Do I really look helpless to you?" she replies, laughing. She presses her palm onto Zordon's wall, and green lightning starts to fizz and burst across it. Zordon is screaming out in pain.

"Zordon, no!" Alpha shouts. "What's she doing?"

"I don't know…" I say, "but I'm gonna stop her." I stand up and run towards her, but whatever she was trying to do has been done. Zordon is gone.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"Got rid of your precious mentor." she replies, laughing once more. "Goodbye blue ranger," she says, before disappearing in thin air.

"Oh no. oh no, oh no…" Alpha says, furiously hammering at the console trying to bring Zordon back.

"I can't believe this…" Billy says. "The green ranger just walked in here without any resistance. Surely her coin shouldn't have let her in?"

"Well, there's no way for us to sever the connection the power coin has with the morphing grid that sits in this ship. It's a flaw, I know." Alpha replies sadly.

"You can say that again." I say. The door opens again, I stay morphed in case it's trouble.

"Billy, what's happened?" Jason asks. He's the first to get here.

"The green ranger. She came, and I think she killed Zordon." I say, Jason's eyes widen in horror.

"Shit… Um, oh God... what are we gonna do? Are you okay?" he asks, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I feel bad I couldn't do more." I reply.

"C'mon Billy, you did the best you could. None of us could've done any better." he says. I shrug, I'm not sure I believe him. Or that he believes himself. He sits on the steps and puts his head in his hands, I don't know how to comfort him so I just stand still, silent. Kimberly, Trini and Zack come in together, already morphed.

"What's going on?" Zack asks, out of breath.

"The green ranger attacked us. She's done something to Zordon." I reply.

"What? The green ranger?" Kimberly asks.

"The one who took the coin..." Trini says, "it makes sense."

"And she just walked in here and maybe killed Zordon?" Zack asks. "What the hell?"

"It's because of her power coin. We can't sever the link to the morphing grid, which means she can access the command centre." Alpha says. "I did just explain this to Billy."

"And who was here? Just you and Zordon?" Trini asks.

"I was here too." I say, shuffling my feet awkwardly.

"Oh" Zack replies. "Well, you did your best buddy."

"Yeah, I would've been so scared." Kimberly adds.

"Mmhmm..." I reply. "I need some air." I walk past the others and out of the ship. I feel so useless. I bet Zack or Trini could've handled the green ranger easy. This is my fault. I jump straight through the water that fills the entrance to the cave and land on the cliff edge.

"Billy, you gotta get your head in the game." I say, I know talking to myself is weird but hey, that's what I do. I hear a surge in the water, I wish they could've left me alone.

"Hey." Kimberly says, sitting down next to me.

"Hello." I reply, unsure of what else to say.

"Are you okay?" Kimberly asks.

"People keep asking me if I'm okay... I don't need sympathy, or to be wrapped up in cotton wool. Leave me alone." I say, standing up and storming away from Kimberly. It feels wrong behaving like this, but I just feel so frustrated.

"Billy wait..." Kimberly says. But before she can continue, I leap as far as I can to put some space between us. I need some time.


	4. Chapter 4: Trini

**Chapter Four: Trini**

It's been a week since the green ranger attacked our ship. It's been all that's on my mind, much to Mom's disappointment. She thinks I'm even more distracted than usual. Typical. Now I'm sitting on a crowded school bus, heading to some stupid botanical centre bullshit. It's part of our science class… totally lame. Jason, Zack and Billy are in a different class to us, so they're going tomorrow.

"Trini?" Kimberly asks, dragging me out of my own mind.

"Yeah?" I reply, turning to face her.

"What do you think's gonna happen?"

"With what?"

"What do you think? The green problem." she says, staring blankly ahead, heavy bags under her eyes. I shrug, running my hands through my hair.

"I've got no idea, Kim. I wish I did. We just need to find out who they are, and take them out." I say firmly.

"Take them out?" Kim asks.

"Yep. Stone dead. They're clearly dangerous. This Lord Zedd guy's no joke, wherever he is, and taking out his little green ranger will be the first step in putting him down like Rita." I reply.

"Well, you slapped her into space…" Kimberly replies, smirking at me.

"Yeah, yeah. Same difference." I say, laughing a little.

"Looks like we're here." Kimberly says, grabbing her bag from between her feet and putting it on her lap.

"Yay." I reply, as sarcastically as is humanly possible.

"Okay everybody, let's get off the bus and then I'll split you into pairs to explore the centre." Mrs Appleby says, her voice is so high-pitched I swear. Nails on a frickin' chalkboard.

"I'm your partner, right?" Kimberly asks, as we step off the bus.

"Nah. I was gonna partner up with someone else today." I reply, smirking at her.

"Like hell." Kimberly replies, sauntering off the bus ahead of me. We filter out and line up along the bus, Mrs Appleby stands with a clipboard in her hands, trying to look super important. She clears her throat.

"Okay everyone, I'm going to split you into pairs, and then in your pairs you have to find one thing you find interesting in the centre and report back in tomorrow's class. A fifteen minute presentation for each pair. Everyone groans, presentations are the worst and we all know it.

"Amanda, you go with Aaron. Rebecca, with Grace. Ashley, you go with Taylor. Kimberly, you're with Eric." she starts, Kimberly moans.

"Save me…" she begs, as she walks over to Eric, he's a little bit of a nerd and looks a little too excited to be partnered up with Kimberly.

"Trini, you're with Tommi." she says, I raise an eyebrow. "Who?" I ask.

"Tomoko." she says, I look down the line and see a tall, dark-haired asian girl staring at me. I smile. 'Oh." I reply.

"Hey." I say, standing next to Tommi. She doesn't say anything, she's either shy or a mute. I can relate to either.

"Okay, let's get going." Mrs Appleby says, breezing straight to the coffee shop that sits at the front of the centre. Me and Tommi start walking, silently, in to one of the sub-sections of the building. It's wall to wall flowers, and it is quite pretty. But I'd rather be at home, or at school, or just about anywhere.

"So… Tommi, I'm sorry I didn't recognise your name before. I feel bad about it." I say, trying to break the ice. She looks at me for a second.

"It's okay. I'm used to people forgetting about me…" Tommi replies, trailing off.

"Hey, I know what it feels like. People used to think my name was DeeDee. Some still do." I say, she smiles. It's a pretty smile.

"See, I'm glad I got you to crack a smile at least. But seriously, I know how it feels to be left out or like you don't fit in. Don't worry, we're cool." I say, leaning close to look at a fly trap in front of us.

"That's awesome." Tommi says, taking a picture of it on her phone.

"Yeah, it could do some serious damage to your hand." I say, half-tempted to put my finger on it and see if it snaps.

"I think it's more interested in flies than human hands." Tommi replies, smiling again.

"Well, should we find out?" I ask.

"I don't think so." Tommi replies, "but feel free to be the guinea pig."

"Ha, whatever." I say, nudging her slightly. The rest of the trip goes by pretty smoothly. We picked the flytrap as out "most interesting thing," and Tommi agreed to make the presentation if I read it out in class. A fair trade I guess. We traipse back to the bus after a few hours, Tommi grabs the seat next to me before Kimberly got the chance.

"Not happy." Kimberly whispers, sitting next to Eric behind us. I turn and smile.

"Sorry 'bout it." I wink.

"Thank you for being so nice to me today, Trini. I think you're the first person at Angel Grove to make an effort since I started here." Tommi says, it makes me blush.

"Don't sweat it." I reply. "You should know, I'm miss congeniality."

"Of course, I already got that." Tommi says, laughing. We stay quiet again for a while, the bus ride back to school is a couple of hours. Eventually, Tommi falls asleep and rests her head on my shoulders. Of course, Kimberly leans over and takes a picture of us to send to the others. Feeling her resting on me is giving me butterflies. I'm trying to ignore the feeling, just for the sake of keeping my life as simple as can be when you're a power ranger, but it's not working. When we get back to school I have to jog her awake.

"Hey, Tommi. We're back." I say.

"Oh god, Trini, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." Tommi replies shyly.

"I don't mind at all." I say, smiling at her. She returns the favour and we sort of stare at each other for a second. We walk off the bus, ready to filter off to our separate cars.

"I'll meet you by the car." Kimberly says quietly as she passes us.

"Thanks again for today, Trini." Tommi says.

"No prob." I say, "I'll see you around I suppose."

"Yeah…" Tommi says. I start walking off when she speaks up again.

"Trini, I wondered, could I have your number? You know, for the project and stuff." she says, not very convincing. It's definitely for more than just the project.

"Of course." I say, taking her phone and typing my number in. "I'll text you later, Tommi. See you around."

"Bye Trini." she says, turning and walking towards a car with an older, asian woman in it. By the time I get to Kimberly's car, she's leaning against it smiling like the cheshire cat.

"You like her." she says, as we get in.

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do." she says, giggling.

"Okay, she is cute." I reply, Kimberly lets out a roar of approval and hugs me.

"Yeas. girl, I'm happy for you." she says.

"We're not getting married, Kim. She did ask for my number though."

"Holy shit." Kimberly replies, starting up the car.

"Yeah, we'll see I guess." I reply, leaning my head against the window.

"Trini's getting married…" Kimberly sings, in a mock high-pitched voice.

"I will kill you." I say, Kim just laughs. Maybe Tommi and I will be more than just friends, or whatever we are right now. Maybe.


	5. Chapter 5: Zack

**Chapter Five: Zack**

Punch. Kick. Repeat. They're the words I live by. Jason's got us in training every night of the week. The pit is pretty much my home right now, and I'm probably the only one that's happy about it. Mom's pretty much the same as she's been the last year, but as every day passes I get more and more scared that one day I'll go into her bedroom and she'll be dead. It's on my mind every second of every day, but sometimes, when I train really hard, I can forget for a minute. And that's the best minute of my day. Training's wrapped for the night, so we're heading back into the ship to say bye to Alpha before we all go to try and get a little shut eye. Easier said than done when you're a ranger.

"Alpha, we're heading out" Kimberly says, waving at him from the entrance. He's working at the console, attempting to track the green ranger.

"Goodbye rangers, I'll see you tomorrow, right?" he asks, he sounds kind of sad, I feel bad for him being alone here now Zordon's gone.

"Of course." Jason replies.

"I'm gonna stay here." Billy says, everyone looks confused.

"Why?" Trini asks.

"I wanna keep working. I'm going to help Alpha." Billy replies. Jason and I exchange looks.

"Well don't stay too late, we've got school tomorrow." Jason says, "bye guys." We follow Jason out of the ship and through the cave. Trini starts to giggle.

"Don't stay too late, we've got school tomorrow." she says, in a deep voice, mocking Jason. I can't help but laugh.

"Oh come on…" Jason replies, before he starts smiling too. The others take off, they live in the other direction to me. I'm at the Melody Mobile Home Park, it's the opposite side of town. The "bad" side. Or the "wrong side of town," as Trini's Mom said the one time I met her. Walking down the dirt track that leads to my place, I get this overwhelming urge to just turn on my heel and run for it. Not to Jason's house, or to Kim's house, just away from here. So I'd never know if something happened to Mom, or one of the rangers, I'd just be gone. Sometimes I wonder if that would be easier. If I could just run away, like my Dad did. Even that feels like a million years ago now. I can barely remember the sound of his voice. I open the door to the caravan quietly, I don't wanna wake Mom up. She hates when I come in late. Sneaking down the cramped hallway, I peek in and check on her, moving closer until I can see she's definitely breathing. She is. Phew. I can sleep tonight.

 **The next morning…**

I'm late. Why am I always late? My alarm didn't go off, so I'm about half an hour behind schedule. Usually, I wouldn't even go in at this point. But I'm trying to be a good student I guess. The bus pulls in.

"Where to?" The driver asks.

"Angel Grove High." I reply.

"That's a dollar fifty." he says, stretching out his hand. I reach into my jacket pocket, fumbling around for change.

"I've only got fifty cents." I say, feeling my face flushing, this is so embarrassing. Broke Zack strikes again…

"It's okay, I've got it." I hear a voice say behind me, an asian girl with long, raven black hair reaches around me and puts the money in his hand. I turn and she smiles at me.

"Thanks…" I reply.

"You're welcome." she says, smiling and walking down the bus, sitting at the back. I can't take my eyes off her, not because she's cute - she is - just have a strange feeling. I sit down at the front, lean my head on the window and try and catch another five minutes sleep. The bus pulls in, and to my surprise, Trini is waiting at the bus stop. She's smiling in the direction of the back of the bus, but catches my eye and her face drops, then she smirks.

"Zack, what are you doing here?" she asks.

"I got to school here?" I reply, nudging her.

"Yeah…" Trini says, looking awkward.

"Hey T" I hear from behind me, it's the asian girl.

"Thank God you're here. I can't wait to get away." Trini replies, the two of them hug for a little longer than two friends would. I see what this is, go Trini.

"You cutting class?" I ask.

"Yep." Trini replies, "Tommi's an artist, she goes hiking to paint and that's where I go to clear my head. It's a good mix."

"Thanks by the way, for helping me out on the bus. I'm Zack." I say, Tommi smiles.

"I've heard a lot about you." she says, smiling.

"Yeah? All good I hope." I reply, Tommi laughs.

"You'll never know." Trini says, linking arms with Tommi and walking off down the road.

By the time lunch rolls around, I'm ready to burn the school to the ground. Sitting through class after class is mind numbing, I don't get any of it so what's the point in me even being there? Spoiler alert: there isn't a point.

"Where's Trini today?" Kim asks, appearing next to me in the queue for food.

"She went off with that girl, Tommi. They're cutting class to go hiking or something." I reply, picking up a sandwich and putting it in my pocket.

"Zack, you don't have to do that." Kim says, I pretend not to know what she's talking about.

"Do what?" I ask.

"Steal. I'll get it for you, it's cool." She says it gently, as kindly as possible. But I can't help but get mad, I hate feeling like a charity case. It's the second time today.

"Why does everybody treat me like a charity case?" I ask, pushing past her to walk straight out of the cafeteria.

"Zack?" Jason asks, he's walking in as I'm walking out. He grabs my arm but I shrug him off.

"Save it, boss man." I reply. It feels bad that I blew up on Kim, but today's been a shit and I need a minute to cool off. Screw it, I'll just go home. It's raining hard by the time I get to the mobile home park, but I make it back in record time.

"Mom?" I call as I get in, "school finished early today. What do you want for lunch?" I ask, opening up the nearly empty cupboards. No reply, she's probably asleep. I change tact from loud baboon to sneaking Zack as I head down the hallway, I don't want to wake her up. Leaning in, I see her on the bed. But something's off. Moving closer, she looks paler than usual, her skin is cold. I don't think she's breathing.

And that's when my world caved in.


	6. Chapter 6: Billy

**Chapter Six: Billy**

Alpha and I have been up through the night. My Mom's been calling, asking where I am, I've just said I'm staying at Jason's working on a project. It's only a half lie, right? I've been awake now for 36.4 hours, and I'm not going to sleep any time soon. Since the attack, I've been trying to make myself as useful as possible. I'm not as good at being a ranger as the others, I mean, I died, then I let Zordon die in my place after he was the one to bring me back in the first place. It's not a good feeling.

"Billy, do you think Zordon will ever come back?" Alpha asks, he sounds so down.

"Well, the odds are that he probably won't but you never know." I reply, Alpha shakes his head, then continues working.

"You should've gone to school today, Billy. It's important." Alpha says.

"So is this." I reply. We hear a noise from beyond the entrance. I jump up, and without even realising it, morph instantly.

"Why are you morphed?" Jason says as he walks in.

"I thought it could be the green ranger again." I reply, Jason steps forward and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"You don't have to worry so much, it's good you're vigilant but you know." Jason says, I un-morph as he does.

"Woah, Billy blue, is that a power rangers costume or are you just happy to see us?" Kimberly asks, laughing as she throws her bag down.

"Very funny." I say. "Do you know where Trini and Zack are?"

"Trini's on a date, I think. Zack is MIA." Jason says.

"Isn't that a bit of a concern?" I say.

"Probably. He stormed out of the cafeteria earlier on and we haven't heard from him. I've tried calling him four times, but nothing." Jason says, "so we're gonna have to train without them."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I don't think you're going to be training this evening." Alpha says.

"Why?" Jason asks, "what's up?"

"There is a huge, powerful energy signature coming from somewhere on this mountain. I've uploaded the coordinates, you'll be able to access them when morphed." Alpha says, "you need to go and see what it is, rangers."

"On it." Jason says, "let's go guys."

We start hiking across the mountain to try and figure out what the energy signature could've been, but there's nothing.

"We've been walking for ages, there's nothing here." Kimberly says.

"I don't know, I have a weird feeling…" Jason says.

"Me too." I add, feeling uncomfortable.

"Jason, look out!" Kimberly shouts, from behind a figure appears, taking hold of him and throwing him about a hundred metres into the air.

"Oh shit." I say, jumping forward and trying to hit the figure but it knocks me back without even moving much.

"You're gonna regret this." Kimberly says, leaping at the figure and wrapping her arms around his head, trying to break it. The figure, who is hooded, throws her off of him. But as he does Kimberly pulls at the hood, revealing his appearance. It's shocking. His body is blue, but covered in red lines and metallic armour. It almost looks like muscle, but it's not organic. His face has metallic indentations in it, and his eyes are dark and soulless. Finally, there is a 'Z' tattoo on his forehead, it's ornate and raised. It's impressive, and terrifying.

"Lord Zedd…" I say.

"Well, at least introductions aren't necessary." he says. "I've been watching you Power Rangers, and I'm glad to finally meet most of you."

"What do you want?" Kimberly asks, she's tending to Jason who is now un-morphed and looking worse for wear.

"That would be telling my dear. I just wanted you to know, I'm watching, and so is my green ranger. Remember, you are not long for this world. Everything will end." he says, turning and walking away from us, before stopping, the way he moves scares me. "One more thing, I forgot." he says, he waves his hand and Jason is pulled from Kimberly's arms and into the air. A dull red light forms around him, it looks almost like he's in some form of stasis.

"Jason! Billy come on, we have to do something." she says, jumping up and running towards Zedd. I follow behind her, but with another wave of his hand we're swept back.

"Goodbye rangers." Zedd says, disappearing in a flash. Along with Jason.

"No no no no…" Kimberly says, collapsing to the floor. I'm shaking, I should've done more.

"We need… I- I don't know what to do." Kimberly says, "we need to call the others."

"Let's get back to the ship, we'll send out the call." I say, before I finish my sentence Kimberly has already taken off in the direction of the ship.

 **At the ship…**

Walking in I expect the ship to be empty besides Alpha, but Trini is ahead of us walking in.

"Trini?" I ask, she turns and smiles.

"Hey guys." she says, smiling before she sees our faces.

"Where the hell were you?" Kimberly asks, pushing past her. Trini continues along next to her, looking concerned.

"Kim? What's up? I thought you were training, I'm sorry I was late…" Trini says.

"It's not about training. It's Jason." I say, trying to help Trini out.

"Jason's been taken by Zedd." Kimberly replies.

"No… How?" Trini asks.

"Because we weren't all there to protect him. Maybe, if we'd all been there we could've won somehow." She says.

"He was very strong Kimberly, seemingly stronger than even our Megazord perhaps." I say, feeling my stomach drop at the thought of Zedd and his powers.

"I'm sorry…" Trini says quietly. Kimberly storms up the stairs of the ship and inside. We walk in together and see Zack standing by the morphing grid, Alpha next to him.

"Zack?" Kimberly says, "where were you?"

"It's my Mom. She's dead." Zack says. The world just keeps getting darker. What are we going to do?


	7. Chapter 7: Kimberly & Zack

**Chapter Seven: Kimberly & Zack **

It's been two weeks since Jason went missing. His Dad spends most of his time driving around town, handing out missing person's posters, asking around. I've gone out as part of a search party, even though I know why he's disappeared. For all I know, he could be dead. Or worse, being tortured by Zedd and his ranger. It's the morning of Zack's Mom's funeral, so we're all trying to be there for him. He's been staying alone in the mobile home park, but we're going to help him out somehow. His Dad's crawled out of the wood work, after not seeing Zack since he was five. He put all the money in for the funeral, so now he thinks he's God's gift to the world because of it. Nice work, asshole.

"Kim, you ready?" Trini says, coming in to my bedroom. Billy's waiting downstairs.

"Almost, can you zip me?" I ask, the long black dress I'm wearing won't zip, so Trini's my knight in yellow armour. Standing in the mirror as she fidgets with my zip, I can't help but smile. I don't know why.

"There ya go." Trini says, brushing her hair off her face. I turn around.

"Thanks Trini." I say, we walk out of my room and start heading downstairs. "How's things with Tommi?" I ask.

"Good." she says, "I'm seeing her later."

"Cool." I reply. "Well, let's go…" I say, Billy is already in his Mom's car. Not the van, thankfully. She's lent it to him for the day. We stay quiet for most of the drive to the cemetery, things have been strange the last two weeks. It's like we're in limbo.

"I miss Jason." Billy says, completely out of nowhere, as we pull into the parking lot.

"Me too." I say, putting my hand on his. His lip starts to tremble and he looks like he's about to cry. "Billy, Billy, Billy hey… Don't cry." I say, pulling him into a hug. Trini leans forward and kisses the top of his head.

"We'll work this out Billy blue. We'll be okay." She says, putting her arms around us both. "We'll be okay."

"Come on, let's pull ourselves together. We need to be strong for Zack today." I say, wiping my own tears from my face and checking my make up in the mirror. We get out of the car and walk up to where the ceremony is taking place. Zack's waiting outside.

"Hey guys." he says, his eyes are red. I pull him into a hug, I feel him shaking a little.

"It's a beautiful day." Billy says, "in fact, it's almost too hot to be wearing a suit like this."

"Come here big guy." Zack says, pulling Billy into a bear hug. "You don't get away either" he says, grabbing Trini at the same time who protests, until she eventually gives in to the love-in. A man walks out from the entrance, he's tall, asian, handsome, this must be Zack's dad.

"Oh everyone, this is my Dad. Dad, this is Kimberly, Billy and Trini." Zack says, looking nervously from his Dad to us.

"Nice to meet you all." he says, before brushing past us to answer his phone that's ringing.

"He's not a big talker." Zack says.

"Clearly." Trini replies.

 **Later, on the ship…**

"Any luck?" Billy asks, as we sit around the morphing grid. Alpha has been trying to track Jason using his connection through his coin, but nothing. Nothing for two whole weeks.

"Not yet." Alpha replies, "but we'll get there."

Zack's quiet, sitting at the back of the room with a bottle of whisky. Nobody's questioning it, it's fair enough.

"I hope he's okay." Billy says.

"He will be, he's tough." Trini says, putting her hand on Billy's shoulder.

"I think it's time we head home for the night. Zack, do you wanna stay with one of us tonight?" I ask, he shakes his head.

"No. It's fine, I'll go home." he replies, standing up unsteadily and heading out of the cave.

"Come on, we'll drive him." I say.

 **Zack's house… (ZACK POV)**

God, just being here hurts. Every single direction I look is a reminder, or jogs a bad memory of Mom and the way she fell apart. When Kimberly asked if I wanted to stay with one of them, I really wanted to say yes. But I deserve to be here, looking at a reminder of the fact that I couldn't save my Mom. The funny thing is, until I became a ranger, I had been trying. Filming crazy videos on tops of trains, vans, cars, doing ridiculous stunts just to try and get a few views on YouTube. I thought, if I can become like one of those people that lives off of posting videos online, I'll have enough money to get Mom the best treatment. To get her the help she needs so that she can live, not just lie in bed all day praying for it all to be over. My Dad may have left us in a shitty situation, but I didn't do everything I could have. Maybe, just maybe if I'd never become a ranger I would've found a stunt that took off. Maybe I wouldn't have been so distracted. Maybe. There's a knock at the door. Probably one of our freak show neighbours.

"Who is it?" I call.

"It's your father." Dad says, it's weird that he's here. He only came briefly three days after Mom died.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I've come to get you." he says.

"Get me?" I reply.

"I want you to come live me, in Los Angeles." he says, I'm knocked for six.

"For real?" I ask.

"Yes. I want to make up for… everything. I should never have left you, or your Mother." he says, he extends his hand. I take it, and we shake.

"We can sort out school, everything, we can work it out." He says, I smile, for the first time in two weeks. Maybe a fresh start wouldn't be so bad.

"I'll be back in the morning to pick you up." He says, "pack whatever you need."

"Will do, Dad. See you tomorrow." I say, shutting the door and wondering what to do next. If I leave, will I stop being a Power Ranger? This is when the team needs me most…


End file.
